Make 2019 Your Best Financial Year Ever

We’re already 2 weeks into 2019! For the last 2 years I’ve set goals at the beginning of the year so that I know where I need to focus my energy. One of those goals is always financial related. But what if you don’t know what you should be doing? No worries! I got you! Here are 3 changes you can make in 2019 to make it your best financial year ever.

Budget

Yup, the B word. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’ll know I’ve become a big fan of budgeting. It didn’t start out that way. In the past I tried to make a budget that would work in every situation. I would put numbers down without really thinking about reality (we only need to spend like $200 a month on groceries right? Cool.) The only way a budget works is if you update it every month. Budgets need to be fluid, so you can account for your needs that month. Making a budget every single month for the last 1.5 years has made the biggest difference, and I finally feel in control of our money.

If you need help getting started, I did a webinar a few weeks ago! You can access the video by joining our free Facebook group, Money Talks with Will Save For Travel.

Add A Little To Your Mortgage

Small changes can really add up, and that’s especially true when talking about making extra payments on your mortgage. In 2015 when we bought our house, we got a nice 25 year mortgage to go along with it. I knew it wouldn’t take us that long to pay it off though, because right away we decided to pay bi-weekly instead of monthly. When you pay bi-weekly instead of monthly you end up making 2 extra payments a year, which makes a big difference in your amortization period, but not a big difference in your budget if your mortgage comes out on payday, because then it’s also a 3 payday month! Instead of 25 years, we were already down to 22 years and 4 months.

This month I decided to throw a little extra at our mortgage each month and round up our payment by about $50 biweekly. It won’t make a big difference in our budget. If we were paying monthly we would have 21 years and 8 months left, but we are now down to 17 years and 1 month! Just by making a small change, we will be mortgage free 4.5 years sooner if we don’t make any other changes (and I know we will in the future).

Set Up Sinking Funds

A sinking fund is simply an account where you save for something that you know you’ll have to buy or replace. We know Christmas will come around again in 11 months, and I decided that I’m FINISHED going over budget for Christmas. Every month I’m saving $50, so in December the money will be there. It doesn’t have to stop there though. You can set up sinking funds for anything, a new car / car repairs, membership dues, or a new appliance. You can also use it for something as little as a new piece of furniture.

The best way to set a sinking fund is to decide how much money you can save per month and transfer it automatically in your online banking. Having it happen automatically eliminates excuses and as an added bonus, once you set it, you can forget it (until you need to use it).